


Doctor's Orders

by Oddheart



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Depression, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Suicidal Ideation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-01
Updated: 2016-06-13
Packaged: 2018-05-24 03:02:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6139107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oddheart/pseuds/Oddheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alphys records her time working with the Royal Scientist and the science division as shit continuously and predictably starts to hit the fan. -DISCONTINUED-</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Well then.

 

Moving into a new apartment in itself was like forcefully shoving handful after handful of anxiety down your throat while washing it down with a full glass of self esteem issues. Except less metaphorically and more literally.  It never occurred to Alphys to completely tape up her boxes full of belongings completely, the lack of revelation had led to her fumbling up stair case after stair case, attempting in vain to avoid tripping and halting her ascent every few minutes to pick up a comic book, figurine, or other personal item. As if her loud and stuttering steps didn’t draw enough attention already, she had to make the trip more than three times! That was exactly four times more than she really needed, it didn’t help that one monster, a kind tall elderly monster with a clear watery complexion with small bubbles that rose to the top of their head, had offered to help as some of her items fell. They had paused as they picked one of the raggy fallen items, and to Alphys embarrassment, it had been one (of the many) raunchy mangas that she owned. Oh gods.As if this move couldn’t get any worse.

 

Alphys stuttered something that was probably a coherent sentence, grabbed her dropped things and thanked the monster for helping before skittering upstairs. The overgrown claws decorating her padded feet scrapped the floor gracelessly as she finally made it into her new safe haven. Shutting the door behind her with a satisfactory click. She huffed, adjusted her glasses carefully with sharp fingers, and allowed the last box to fall and spill it’s contents from her arms. Textbooks and notes, along with a few extra odd curios from her old place that she couldn’t stand to leave or throw away.

 

She sighed, and dragged her hands down her cheeks before letting them fall down to her lap. She slumped against the door. Her tail awkwardly situated itself as an overgrown padding between her back and the wooden fixture. The worst was over, now she had a week to prepare for her new job, a whole week! She could hole up in her new apartment, break it in, decorate, organize, and charge up and get the much needed energy she would need for such a social endeavor as a full time job.

 

Maybe she could finally watch that new anime she dug out from the corner of the dump. Mew-Mew.. Kissy something. Getting her PHD been crippling, she hadn’t of been able to visit waterfall as much as she liked, and thus, most of the juiciest pieces of trash from the area had been taken. Alphys had almost felt like her territory had been tread on when she had finally freed up a time to return to the watery trash zone, only to find it had been ransacked of all the best items as she had been unable to fight over the riches due to her erratic studying at the time.

 

Alphys shook her head, her mind was wondering yet again. She should at least do such a task on a softer surface, or in front of a computer. She got to her feet as shuffled past the boxes littering the hallway leading from the front door. She had to suck in her gut and move sideways to get past the barrier of her former home cubed into the living room. Perfect, an unexpected blow to her self esteem.She didn’t even get a warning for that one. Now she’ll have to add ten minutes of self loathing to her schedule. Sorry anime, you’ll have to be put on hold for now.

 

Alphys snorted at the thought and plopped down on her lawn chair, it creaked in utter protest but eventually obliged. That’s really all she had in her apartment right now. One lawn chair. As well as a weathered table covered in old claw marks, and her laptop. If you didn’t include her sleeping bag on the floor that is. (She still needed to get a bed, Eugh, She just.. wasn’t really feeling up to that. Maybe tomorrow or the next day.) If she was a more ambitious person she would consider painting the rather dull colored walls, but she wasn’t. Hanging up posters was much more her style, as well as more practical. As soon as she unboxed those she would cover the gross yellow color that graced her vision with cat girls and ironic memes. Heh.

 

Alphys glanced at the small digital clock nestled in the corner of her computer screen. It read 2:34 AM. Still pretty early. But she didn’t have anything to do.

 

Well, besides unpacking

 

and cleaning

 

and maybe changing out of her clothes. She was pretty sure she had worn this shirt three days in a row. She nonchalantly sniffed it. Ugh. Nope. Definitely at least five days. Maybe six.

 

She disregarded her list of things to do in favor of checking the Undernet. Listing that many tasks was overwhelming and now she felt even less motivated. Her finger softly moved against the trackpad as she moved down her timeline. Catty and Bratty seemed to be posting practically similar updates on the same happenings, which wasn’t surprising really, they were always together. Alphys sighed a bit, they were certainly getting along fine without her, she suppose that’s what she got for wanting to go to college. She hadn’t seen those two for a while. Save for the selfies the two regularly posted. Hrm.

 

Alphys rubbed the bridge of her snout and continued scrolling. Something about an ice cream stand opening, capital letters among more capital letters, and a few “selfies” which didn’t seem to contain a monster. She simply sighed as she scrolled to the post that she recognized from earlier today. She had combed through every single new post and had found herself back to the point where she had checked last time, fantastic.

 

Alphys moved back up to the top of the page and decided to alleviate her boredom by making a post.

 

 

> _**ALPHYS** : OMGGgg just finished moving in 2 my new APARTMENT! my crap kept falling out of the boxes,_
> 
> _  ┻━┻ ヘ╰( •̀ε•́ ╰) it was sUPER embarrassing. god I need 2 sleep 4 like ever._

 

Alphys switched out of that tab tapped her fingers to no beat in particular on the keyboard. Her attempts to distract herself were in vain. She couldn’t help it. All this change. All at once as well! She was surprised she hadn’t just stopped functioning. Honestly, she was surprised she had got a job after all. The science division in the Underground is small, and only few actually get anywhere with their careers. So the fact she managed to get an interview with the.. with the Royal Scientist of all monsters. Gods, she still couldn’t believe it. And he had actually liked her!

 

Well, not her.. her work probably. Alphys had worked hard on her paper on the science of introducing magic to the human practice of bio engineering and mechanical engineering. Well, at least he seemed to be impressed with her work. Alphys couldn’t really tell what kind of monster he was, but it wasn’t one that was easily prone to facial expressions.

 

She remembered when she got the call from his assistant. She couldn’t even form words, she was just stuttering out random syllables. Alphys hadn’t expected to get the job at all! She had completely accepted that she would have to work as a cheap mechanic. So one could imagine the fact she had to pause for a moment to get her breathing under control before thanking the assistant. Alphys remembered right after that call she had posted a status and gave her landlord a notice that she would be moving out in order to be closer to her new job.

 

Why hadn’t she felt more overwhelmed then? Mayhaps it was due to the excitement of it all at the moment that she was allowed to just ride it out without not really letting it sink in. Ugh. She probably sounded like such a fool over the phone. Hopefully, the Doctor didn’t hear about it.

 

With that thought scratching at the inside of her skull, she switched back to her previous tabs and refreshed the site a few times more than was probably necessary, her post greeted her again with the one difference that it had a single like, It wasn’t that surprising it got practically no attention, was pretty late after all. Though it was liked by someone she didn’t even know or was following. _Skelepun69_? Eh, Kinda cool username. It reminded Alphys of when she was in her first year of college. LMAO. Owned. She thought with a straight expressionless face to the user who could not hear her thoughts.

 

 


	2. Keycards

Hotland had never really bothered Alphys.

Few monsters could actually stand the oppressive heat that was emitted from the churning magma below, and the confusing and rather tedious puzzles used to navigate parts of the small city had put off the other few types of monsters that could stand the unruly temperature. However, Alphys was oblivious to such challenges to living in the area. Her amber scales absorbed enough heat to keep her in a cozily warm state and unbeknowst to her, the orange glow of the hot melted rock below shined off her scales and gave her a complexion that is easily comparable to a soft sunset.

 Sadly due to the few monsters that strolled through hotland for the amazing weather and the totally-not-frightening view no one was to imbibe in the sight as the soft glow of the heat below reflected off the few scales that were not covered by what seemed to be, a brand new labcoat with a dotted dress underlying it.

Alphys tugged awkwardly at her collar and was extremely aware of how many steps she was taking. One, two, three... The lizard monster's claws picked anxiously against against the straps of the bag she had toted along with her. It was a faded pink colour with a greenish stain tainting it's bottom that ran up to stain the visage of an anime girl who was winking a single oversized eye and holding her hand up in a peace sign.

The faster she walked the more sweaty she would get from the exertion needed to get her body to agree to do such, but the longer it took her to get to the small white building the more nervous she got. Alphys mind riddled with indecision. Why had she worn her best dress? That was stupid. She was stupid! But showing up in her usual attire of sweatpants and oversized t-shirt didn't seem appropriate. Didn't people in all those shows she watched wear ties and suits to work and a labcoat over that? Oh hell, did she need a suit? She didn't have a suit. Why would she wear a dress? The notion is ridiculous, stains could get on it, corrosive materials could burn holes through it, it could catch on fire. Not to mention this backpack!! Who thought that was a good idea? Apparently her! She was so awful. She might as well toss herself into the lava now because surely her new co-workers would do the task themselves if she didn't.

Alphys train of though stopped when she noted that her claws were digging into the straps of her backpack. Each strap now boasted four ragged holes. Valiantly damaged in a battle of emotional anguish on behalf of their owner. Alphys sighed and loosened her grip. She needed to calm down. She had a whole week to prepare for this. Sure, she didn't spent much time 'preparing' as she did binge watch that new anime and not doing any of the chores she had listed out to herself in order to set up her new place. (Mew Mew Kissy Cutie was pretty good so far, she didn't want to make any rash judgements immediately in case it did a turnaround and had a sucky plot twist or ending.)

She didn't have enough time to go home and change nor grab a new backpack. For a moment she considered throwing the bag into the cavern below to burn and maybe buttoning up her labcoat completely to cover her dress. Though her train of thought was broken when she hit a door snout-first, knocking her glasses crooked and causing her to reel back in mild surprise.

Alphys rubbed her offended nose and scrunched it to make sure the attack hadn't left it inoperable. 

*** Smells like burning science.**

Yeah, she was fine. A single scaly hand moved up to sit her glasses back in place, displaying a clear look of what exactly she ran into.

  


A tall white door loomed above her, the faded lettering stated in all caps that she had just rubbed her face all over the entrance of the Royal lab. Or the "LAB" as the sign gracefully put it. The very same place that she had come to work. She had been so entranced in her thoughts that she had ran right into it. She really hoped no one else saw that ordeal or she swore she was going to.. do nothing to be honest, but she'll still feel horribly embarrassed on the inside.

Well at least she was here. That is what mattered. Her outfit nor her makeshift purse weren't important as long as she was here and contributing the the understanding of monsters, humans, and magic.

  


Alphys thought that heroic statement was a pretty good way to start off her adventure as a protagonist as this new chapter of her life began. Her fingers ghosted over the door, reaching for the knob.

  


It didn't open. 

  


It COULDN'T open.

  


"Hell, it doesn't even have a DOORKNOB! This is where the engineering department lied and these asshats don't even have the brains to gift the most important building in the underground with a simple piece of fucking metal!?" Alphys shouted in her mind and pawed at the door, looking for the answer to her ridiculous probl- Oh shit wait.

Alphys stared at the keycard scanner that nearly blended into the white of the wall, it's slightly greyed surface contrasted just a shade lighter than the surrounding light paint of the building.

A keycard scanner? Did she need a keycard? She didn't have a keycard. Was she suppose to have one? Dr. Gaster had never mentioned a keycard and this was her first time being here, all of her interviews had taken place over the Undernet. (Apparently Dr. Gaster talked weird? That's what some students had said anyway. Alphys was okay with that, seeing as how she still had yet to conquer her own speech impediment.)

Maybe Dr. Gaster had mentioned it and she had forgot? Or did it get sent in the mail? Alphys gasped. Had it been sent to her old address? Oh Fuck. She stopped running her claws over the dulled metal door and her diamond-esque pupils flitted around to look for.. she didn't know, maybe a doorbell?

  


The scaled monster's internal rant was interrupted by a small weight on her shoulder, tapping it twice.

 * "hey, you need some help there?"

Alphys immediately spun around, her tail in danger of sending any close bystanders flying, and faced the monster that had spoken. 

Her eyes were met with a.. skeleton? A short stocky skeleton that was wearing a labcoat similar to Alphys. She must of had a confused expression on her face because the skeleton tilted his head and smiled. Well...smiled more? He had already been smiling.

* "you seem to be in a bit of a _jam_ here, eh? forgot your card?" The skeletal monster punctuated that remark with a rap on the door with boney knuckles.

Alphys brain slowly processed the fact that not only did this monster most likely work here and saw her desperate display but he had made a joke about it. Her brain's attempt to make her look even more stupid were thwarted by Alphys stubbornness to salvage a good first impression.

* "Um.. Yeah. I'm new a-and I didn't know if I was s-suppose to get one?" Fuck!!! Her!!! Stutter!!!

The other didn't seem surprised by this fact and he scratched the top of his skull.

* "oh you're the new guy? yeah i heard that you were coming today." 

The monster dug into his pockets and flashed a small keycard to the scanner. A dull mechanical whining noise came soon after and the doors hissed opened.

* " don't worry about the card, it happens all the time with the new guys, we were sending the cards in the mail for a bit but they just got lost in the system." He paused and held the door open for her. " you can still get a card later but just so ya know, if you knock five times then yell 'physicists are the best' then someone will probably let you in." 

Alphys couldnt help but snort at the  password given. Her anxiety was fading bit by bit. 

* "Pfff- um, t-thanks. S-sorry about all of that." She shuffled through the door and her eyes were met by a whitewashed room with a handful of labcoated monsters whizzing about, carrying papers, chewing on pencils and arguing theories.

Alphys was basically in heaven. This place was better than she imagined! She could see herself living here and making a small hoard of test tubes and mechanical parts. It was that cool.

* "sooo, you got a name newbie?" The other monster had closed the door and stood beside her, watching the chaos of the lab ensue before speaking.

Alphys blinked. Oh right. He was here.

* "A-alphys. Nice to meet you.. um..."

* "sans." 

* "Sans." Alphys echoed back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao i typed up a good part of this on my phone also pls refrain from jerking off too hard now that the skelly has entered the picture. also wow i didnt expect to get any kudos on this. thank.
> 
> also im not very good at splitting up chps oops


	3. Snort

* “so i guess i’ll show you ‘round, seeing as the doc is probably busy” Sans walked with a slow stride in front of Alphys before facing her. Sans regarded the room full of lab members with a low wave and he received a few greetings in response, though he didn’t seem to be paying attention to them that much.

 

* “W-well If that’s okay.. I don’t really want to b-be any trouble.”Alphys relaxed her hold on her backpack and tried to avoided the stares from the other workers milling past.

 

* “nah, no trouble alph.. it’s kinda my job anyway.” Sans shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets.

 

_Alph? Did she already get a nickname? Was she suppose to give Sans one too?  No. No. Overthinking the situation. Definitely overthinking the situation._

 

Overall, Alphys wasn’t sure what to make of Sans’ relaxed demeanor, she expected her area of expertise to be filled with high strung workaholics. Though it didn’t bother her as much as confused her. It was kinda nice to see you could get into this field and still be kinda cool. Not that Sans was cool, but... Hm.. Chill. That was the word. Chill.

 

Sans tilted his head and started a lazy stride, Alphys followed at exactly the same pace. One.. two.. three.. four…

 

* “now eh…” Sans scratched the back of his skull, this action seemed to signal to the rest of the staff to go back about their business and stop staring. The hushed and relaxed conversations resumed as if Alphys hadn’t entered at all. * “i’m pretty sure we have a new desk for you and stuff in the back, though, i guess you should know that this area is kinda just like.. the main place.” Sans waved his hand around, vaguely regarded the main entrance.

 

* “over there is the physics department..” Sans pointed to an entrance to his left where a water elemental and a woshua were conversing. * “.. that way is chemistry.” Sans pointed to an entrance devoid of doors with blackened edges around it. * “..geology, magical studies, biology.. engineering.” 

 

The more Sans talked, the more Alphys noticed his voice sounded a tad bit familiar. Which was odd because she never really… went out and talked to strangers. Or really went out and talked to be honest. 

 

She shifted her head to look to each entrance as the skeletal monster pointed to it. Alphys vaguely wondered how they had built up the royal laboratory so quickly over the past few years, it had only been two floors when she visited on a field trip in grade school, and the second floor had barely been large enough for a bedroom.

 

* “…speleology….coprology..” 

 

Alphys head shot up as she was ripped out of her thoughts. * “ _Coprology??!_ ”

 

Sans snickered. * “nah, i just wanted to make sure you were listening.”

 

Alphys huffed but couldn’t help the grin that was threatening to invade her expression, though his only spurred on Sans’ mischievous smile.

 * “you majored in engineering right? come on you’ll probably want to see where all those dorks are.” Sans motioned her to the engineering wing. Overall, the entrance was pretty normal looking, save for loud noises emanating from it. Sounds like drills and metal, with a dull undertone of arguing and frustration.

 

“Whoa..” Alphys breathed out softly as she entered the door. The area was pretty clean for an engineering room. No loose screws or scraps were on the floor, they simply littered the array of desks on table mats of blueprints that were arranged along the walls. The middle of the large room was obviously reserved for the projects. Near the middle of the room boasted a looming stack of computer modules, probably being restored before being redistributed to the underground’s inhabitants. There were about 10 monsters in the room not including Sans and Alphys. All had on their respected lab coats and about half of them were hunched over one of the many mechanical projects covering the floor.

 

Sans walked ahead of her and tapped a monster that seemed to be hunched over a panel of a computer chip at his desk. The scientist jumped quickly, and blinked two huge eyes that seemed to dominate his facial features, save for the small flat mouth that was just under his protruding sockets.

 

* “ey fol, get your head outta the tech, you got a new one.” Sans poked the monster’s on top of his bulbous head and motioned to Alphys.

 

The monster turned as Alphys patted towards the two with small steps. He paused to sneer at Sans and shoo his hand away before standing straight up and stepping away from his desk, dusting off his outfit of the thin layer of dust that had settled on him, and displayed a height just a tad taller than the skeleton and herself.

 

* “ Ah, Yes yes, pardon me. It’s nice to meet you….?”The monster stuck out a hand.

 

* “ A-alphys.” She stuttered and met the other’s hand halfway and shook it. Fuck, was her hand sweaty? Her hand was sweaty. Shit.

 

* “Dr. Alphys. Of course. I am Dr. Fol, head of the engineering department." Dr. Fol nodded to her, his head moved back and forth in an exaggerated tone, as if his small body couldn't support his skull.  "I look forward to working with you.” Dr. Fol gave a warm, but professional, smile and spoke with a rather tired tone. Then again, knowing his job, Alphys supposed that wasn’t surprising.

 

Sans interjected with a raised phalange. * “yeah okay _fowl_ , i don’t mean to _chicken_ out here, but the doc still needs to meet ‘er so if youse guys can hurry up with the formalities so she can leave her stuff here..” Alphys couldn’t help but grin at the jokes, they were so bad that they were good. In an ironic sense at least.

 

Dr. Fol rolled his eyes and straightened his lab coat. It seemed to be a nervous habit, Alphys noted. His nubby hands moved almost automatically and he didn’t seem aware he did the action at all. 

 

* “I believe seeing as how she will be under my care, I may take as long as I need to introduce her to my department.”Dr. Fol brushed Sans away with annoyance.

 

Sans’ grin grew a sarcastic edge to it and the white dots that floated in his sockets moved in a slow circle.

 

* “yeah yeah yeah, hey alph, when your done met me in the physics department kay?” Sans patted Alphys on the shoulder as he walked past her. 

 

* “Um.. S-sure no problem.” Alphys blinked and watched the other walk out the door, then seemed to head the opposite direction of the physics department. Huh, Maybe she just misheard where Sans had told her the physics department was.

 

* “Now as I was saying…” Dr. Fol sat back down at his desk.

 

 **_ PTHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH _ ** _ HHhhhhhhhhhpphhh.. _

 

Alphys face turned a shade darker and she immediately covered her mouth. A dull whistle of a breath was produced in place of the guffaw that had threatened to emerge from her throat.

 

Dr. Fol paused, his eyes somehow even wider with surprise. He stood up slowly to display the source of the noise. A deflating whoopee cushion was releasing it’s last puffs of air.

 

There was about a solid three seconds where the only noise being emitted between the two was sounded over by the cushion. Then Alphys couldn’t hold it in any longer, a wheezy snicker escaped her and Dr. Fol gave an unamused frown.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i meant to make this longer but it's been sitting in my drafts while I was taking the SAT and i just really want to start a new chp without SAT stress attached 2 it tbh
> 
> also i never realize how short these are until i post them. a 1000 words sounds like alot right? WRONG


	4. Hands

Despite the rather annoyed and exasperated downhill that Dr. Fol's mood decisively went through as soon as Sans' little prank had been perpetrated, Alphys' new boss had managed to show her around the department with at least a ghost of enthusiasm. She didn't mind in the slightest.

Her now new co-workers didn't really pay her mind. Save for a lovely sluggish lady with a huge sharp toothed grin who seemed adamant in knowing any juicy snippets of information about... well just about anything that Alphys had to offer. The lady, who introduced herself as Dr. Lo, didn't seemed disappointed to figure out Alphys didn't have anything interesting to say past the usual introductory formalities. She simply stated she couldn't wait to work with the nervous lizard monster.

Alphys ended up occupying the desk right next to Dr. Lo. She wasn't really that sure how to feel about that. On one hand at least she was next to someone she knew kinda tolerated her, but on the other Dr. Lo seemed to love to talk. Not that that was a problem! Alphys just knew she would feel terrible when the conversation would come to a standstill due to her lack of social practice in maintaining such casual talks.

After a few words from Dr. Fol about the regulations of the department and the expectations, as well as some reassurances from Dr. Lo who had decided to join their little tour at some point, Alphys was itching to get out of there and meet up with Sans. Don't get her wrong, she was so excited to finally have a desk in the department of magical engineering in the royal lab, but meeting the Royal Scientist face to face made her tail twitch. She couldn't keep still and it was showing. If her stutter was prominent before then now she was surprised anyone could actually understand her. Goddamn. She didn't want to go, as the anxiety in her brain clearly made a point at getting that message across, but also there was another type of anxiety welling in her gut stating outright that she SHOULD and she MUST.

As soon as Dr. Fol excused himself to continue his work for the day, Alphys immediately emptied her bag out and gave all her belongings new homes in the drawers of her (obviously used) desk. Pens in the top right, paper in the middle left, Measuring tools top left. Alphys could almost be proud of her organization skills if she didn’t know that the carefully crafted system would be ruined within the first week of her working here. Dr. Lo, or simply ‘Lo’ as she insisted she be called, was rambling about something as Alphys got her shit together. 

 

By the time Lo had managed to go to the topic of some project she was working on. Alphys sheepishly excused herself and clumsily managed to shuffle out of the clutches of Lo’s conversational skills.

She padded out the entrance of the engineering department, wow she never realized how slick the polished floor was, she had thought this flatly as she nearly did the splits due to a miscalculated step. Maybe it’s finally time to invest in shoes. HA! No.

After regaining some balance and dignity, Alphys turned to the right and walked CAREFULLY in the direction Sans had headed. Physics department..Physics department. Wow, the hallways in the royal laboratory sure are long. Alphys passed biology, magical studies, chemistry. No physics. Shit. Did she go the wrong way? She swore the skeletal monster had gone in this direction.

A Pyrope hopped along past Alphys. She turned as the monster past and lifted a claw up to ask where Physics was, but she felt her voice clench up. Seems that the talking function is not available. Shit. The Pyrope didn’t even look up from the papers it held and turned to disappear into the next hallway.

 

Alphys celebrated the achievement of not being able to vocally enunciate a simple sentence with the ever graceful ritual of ramming her palm into her face. Her claws raked lightly over her scales as her hand fell down her face to return to her side.   
  
She was not going to risk going into one of the departments to ask for directions. Alphys knew the moment she walked in a random department everyones eyes would be on her, and then she would try to speak and fail at it. Eugh, just thinking about it made her nervous.

 Perhaps it would be a wise choice to simply retrace her steps all together. The scaled monster did just that, headed backwards and hoping no one had seen her walking in circles like an idiot.   
  
Hello Engineering door, or lack of a door. Entrance. The word she was looking for is entrance. Just as she was about to walk back in with this mild defeat against her sense of navigation, there was a small muffled noise coming through the walls that permeated her ears. Her head swung in that direction to follow the noise and her legs followed suit. One.. two.. three.. four.. The source of the noise was exactly 54 steps away. It was much louder now that Alphys had covered the distance as she got closer. As she approached she saw the standard plastic label, the one that announced the name of the department as well as named it in monster braille, had been covered over by a sticky note. As Alphys finally came within a foot of the door, she adjusted her glasses and read small looped handwriting adorning it.

"coprology"

 

 Alphys couldn't help but roll her eyes as she peeled off the note, the words "Physics" being shown from beneath the sticky paper. While she had several questions, overall the fact that she really hoped Sans was in there and she wasn't walking into a room full of strangers stood out prominently in her brain out of everything else.

 Alphys paused for a moment of contemplation. Then paused again. There was several pauses that after a while combined together to form a long period of waiting that while it was incredibly awkward, it was absolutely necessary. The muffled noises behind the door wasn't really helping.  
  
For ass sake, she's going to be a FUNCTIONING monster and open this fucking door.  
  
And she did just that.

Open the door I mean, Alphys is still just about as functioning as a Coleco Adam.

 

The door creaked open a bit, the noises inside didn't stop. Alphys peaked her snout in. 

The muffled noises increases in volume as the door opened but fell silent as Alphys struggled to look in. There was a light noise of.. wheels(?) And she felt a like poke on her snout.   
  
"hmm.. i think i 'nose' this monster."

The monsters in the room snickered, even a few outright laughed. Alphys huffed as the door the door was opened by the perpetrator of the nose poke. Ah yes. Hello Sans.  
  
"hey alphys, it took you long enough to finish with fol, he talk ya ear off?" Sans was in one of those wheeled desk chairs hiked up to it's full possible height, so while Sans was sitting in it he was almost two times as tall as Alphys was. At least while she was slouching. This only helped in making him look more ridiculous. Alphys didn't know why but something about a very small monster in an oversized object is simply hilarious.

"Um, s-something like that..." Alphys' mind wandered to Dr. Lo as well as her little adventure looking for this area in a mild attempt to avoid making eye contact with the other monsters in the room. They seemed to be slowly going back to their business, but still.

"welp." Sans shrugged and hopped off the rather tall chair to land on the floor. With hardly a noise, Alphys noticed, which was odd since the monster didn't appear to be the light weighted sort of guy. "sorry guys but i gotta finish up the old tour with the newbie here." A few monsters groaned in protest but the crowd practically dispersed completely as Sans said he was going to be leaving. 

     

                                                                               ----

 

Sans had lead Alphys down into the far left hallway. At the far end there was a pair of old wooden doors and the smell of formaldehyde and bleach was much stronger down here than anywhere else. Sans had put a single skeletal palm to the door before pausing.

"eh.. alph listen the doc aint really much of a..uh social type and i dont think he really picks up on the.. y'know politeness cues just so y'know.." Sans rubbed the back of his skull and gave a sheepish grin.

"Oh..uh.. that's okay. I'm k-kinda the same so uh.. it's cool." Alphys claws ticked together lightly. Don't freak out, don't freak out, don't freak out.

Sans simply shrugged and pushed the doors open with a small movement of his hand. It barely looked like he touched the door actually. Why was Alphys paying attention to these small details? Well because she's fucking garbage but what can ya do?

The door opened to reveal a simple study. It was immaculate in it's cleanliness and if Alphys hadn't seen the figure reading at the desk she would of almost sworn this was simply a free office that hadn't been used.

The room was utterly silent save for the soft hushed noise of flipping pages, looks like Dr. Gaster was reading something, for a moment Alphys wondered how the scientist could handle just being in here without music or something of the sort, but then her mind got back on track and turned slightly to look at Sans. 

Sans' pupils flitted to her for a second before he cleared his, albeit nonexistent, throat and Dr. Gaster looked up from his papers.

**"Sans."**

Alphys squinted. The noise that had come out of the royal scientist's mouth was.. well. It wasn't words. At least not words that she really understood. If Alphys was being completely honest it sounded akin to static. Low humming static that pitched and changed tone just slightly.

"ey doc, eh... you told me to bring in the newbie when she showed up 'n stuff. so..yeah. i brought 'er." Sans scratched the back of his skull and said.

Gaster paused for a moment. He didn't appear to have the same white pupils that Sans did, he simply sported hollow socket-like substitutes. Any other time Alphys would of felt relieved that this monster was technically incapable of eye contact, but on Doctor Gaster a pupil-less gaze just seemed to make him more intimidating. Maybe it was just her nerves. Hrm.

Gaster got up from his desk with a smooth sense of ease that comes from someone who knows they have power over another. It wasn't just that either, Alphys found that something about him just.. made it hard to look at him. It was like she was constantly looking at the royal scientist from the corner of her eye, despite the fact she was obviously looking at him straight on.

 **"Dr. Alphys, I presume? It's nice to finally meet you in person. I was rather impressed with your theories on applying a technique of mechanical engineering and magical properties on a soul."** Dr. Gaster had to look down at the lizard monster to meet her gaze and took her tiny paw in his large spindly fingers. 

Alphys resisted the urge curl up on herself to make herself smaller. She had no idea what the other had said. Alphys glanced to Sans then to Dr. Gaster then back to Sans. Help.

Gaster frowned before tucking his hand into his lab coat, and did a movement that was akin to what ones head might do if they rolled their eyes, but Alphys wasn't sure. She was probably just being paranoid. **"Oh? You cannot understand me? That's a tad disappointing."**

"uh.. he said hi." Sans interjected before Alphys had chosen whether or not to throw herself into the magma caverns or jump off the building.

Alphys paused for a moment before managing to met Dr. Gaster's eyes and tried to respond in a clear voice. "U-um.. h-hi it's nice to meet y-you... S-sorry about uh.. not knowing about the.. language... barrier thing." That was her clear voice? Really? Well shit.

Gaster gave a berated huff, or something that sounded more or less like that. **"Don't fret, Sans is here for this very reason."**

Alphys glanced over to Sans. For a moment she thought she caught a glance annoyance on his face. But perhaps it was her imagination?

"eh. he says it cool." the skeleton shrugged.

                                                                        ---------------------------

Gaster had led the two smaller monsters down to the main hall, any other scientists that passed made a large circle around them. Dr. Gaster had stopped in front of a elevator. Alphys hadn't even known it was there before, it's white metallic surface blended in nearly perfectly with the surrounding colour of the walls. As the doors subtracted it displayed a small, equally bland looking room with a single panel on the far wall. 

Alphys had managed get more accustom to Dr. Gaster, she wasn't clicking her claws together anymore and she was talking much more clearly. Alphys considered this a small victory in itself. Though moving into the small room with two monsters she barely knew made her a little bit claustrophobic. She was about to think about asking if their were just stairs they could take before the elevator doors met back together with an audible 'clunk' and a loud whirring as the shaft moved downward.

Alphys broke the silence. "S-so um.. w-where are we going again?"

 **"Down here is the actual laboratory, I simply believed you would like to see what we are truly working towards. Sure, you are not going to be working down here, as it is simply for my personally chosen elite team of scientists like Sans, but perhaps it would give you a better understanding of what this department is all about."** Gaster held his hands behind his back, Alphys couldn't help but notice that they were devoid of palms. Two holes neatly punctured in it's place. How odd.

Sans sighed. "eh.. something about...showing you cool stuff."  Alphys knew that wasn't really all the Royal scientist said, but she didn't really feel like confronting the other. 

Gaster gave an annoyed glare at Sans that was promptly ignored by the skeleton. Alphys couldn't help but feel the pressure building up in the cramped room. 

Thank fuck the elevator opened. Alphys hoped her rushed movement to get out of the small space hadn't seemed rude. 

As soon as Alphys stepped out of that small space she nearly ran into a small snail monster that oozed past all three of the scientists and into the elevator, shutting it with a definitive 'clunk'.

Dr. Gaster put a hand on Alphys shoulder, Alphys pretended to not be bothered by the physical contact. **"Now as you see, this is where the true science occurs."** He led her to a main area, with a few monsters milling about, not nearly as many as there were upstairs, though as soon as Dr. Gaster entered they seemed to straighten up in an almost militaristic kind of way and hushed any conversation they had been having.

Sans followed behind slowly and raised his voice just a bit in order to have it reach Alphys' ears. "this is where the really cool shit happens."

Dr. Gaster removed himself from Alphys space and strided forward. Alphys had to take two more steps for every single step the Doctor took. Two.. four..six..eight.. As the lizard monster caught up, her eyes were met with a soft blue glow. Heart shaped. Beautiful. 

A human SOUL.

Dr. Gaster stood besides the clear, cylindrical container that held the small thing. Alphys stepped slowed as she got closer. She was aware that a human was caught and terminated but she wasn't aware that the Dr. Gaster had possession of it. How peculiar. 

Alphys felt her soul take on a stuttering rhythm as she got closer, the SOUL in its very nature seem to bring itself to the center of attention. Even if she was looking away, she was innately aware of exactly where it was. It was such a stark contrast to how she felt about Dr. Gaster the man seemed to disappear out of her vision for a moment.

Sans' voice snapped her back to reality. "yeah we've had this thing in here for a bit, since gas 'n the king are pretty close." Alphys pondered if Dr. Gaster had said something and it had completely gone over her head, at least Sans had translated still.

**"We've managed to take quite a few leaps and bounds with studying this SOUL, maybe if you prove to be worth more than you seem to be you will get to work with it."**

Alphys looked to Sans. He shrugged. "we've been studying it and it's helped a lot."

Dr. Gaster seemed a bit entranced by the SOUL. He ran a finger over the glass slowly and grinned and didn't seemed bothered by the fact Sans was purposely butchering the translations.

**"Tell me Dr. Alphys. What do you know about DETERMINATION?"**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is shit and i dont give a fuck


	5. Happy Break Time

While work itself was as great and insightful as Alphys had hoped it would be. Her opinion of it slowly sullied it's metaphorical face as she realized that her position never actually allowed her to directly work with Doctor Gaster. 

It was stupid. It's not like anyone had been holding up banners claiming that this job would get you to be Dr. Gaster's best friend, nor promise that one would constantly be in his breathing space, but Alphys had ideas! Plans! Things she wanted to share and stress out about, only to laugh at herself later for ever feeling that stressed because Dr. Gaster thought her ideas were great because of course they were. Alphys may or may not of planned a whole storyline around this situation in which Dr. Gaster actively praises her. Alphys spent a rather embarrassing amount of time daydreaming about becoming cool partners in science and then they make the next big thing. Bigger than the CORE even. Uh, impact wise, not size wise.

But no, here she worked on fixing computers and vents and reprogramming puzzles. Which, while it proved to be easier work that gave Alphys plenty of free time to vaguely complain about her problems on the Undernet, she kinda wished for something... more? It was odd. Most of the time Alphys wished most things were a little less.. but with this. Well, lets just say that it's very disorienting. 

Alphys put a lot of hope into this opportunity, to actually prove something. To prove to herself that she could do something important. Yet...

She was binge watching the rest of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie while playing  a dating sim game. She was currently trying to seduce a tall black haired teenage boy with widely spaced eyes while Mew Mew was going through the plot of a rather cliche filler episode. Alphys usually found herself surrounded by her thoughts, it was a tad suffocating sometimes. So what does one do when you're surrounded and can't fly? Dig. Bury yourself in something you actually would want to be buried in. Distractions. Alphys was uncomfortably familiar with this method.

 She squirmed uncomfortably on her pile of slightly ripped pillows and the stitched up beanbag rustled under her softly. It smelled like garbage and narcotics. She liked it anyway, it was squishy and added nicely to her hoard of soft things. Seeing as how she still didn't have a couch, this was her alternative. Which honestly, Alphys would have to admit, this was her best idea by far. Out of everything else.

Alphys fingers tapped lightly on the keyboard, not actually providing enough pressure to control her small avatar in the game, nor to pause the window that was currently playing the eighteenth episode of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie. She felt something tugging at the back of her brain stem. An itch, one would say. She rolled over to look at the ceiling, her laptop shifting as her head spikes moved it a bit, protesting through the game's ever present elevator-esque music and the sound of Mew Mew and her friends talking in a language from the surface.

Clawed digits found their way up to her jaw and she absentmindedly ripped off some light feathers that had started to grow. It hurt, but it was also satisfying. It was nice to rip something up and out. It helped her feel less anxious. If she hadn't developed this habit of ripping out any feather that grew she might of grown a whole plume by now. She wondered if people saw her without feathers and assumed she was underdeveloped or weird. Possibly both. Hm.

 Her ears rang slightly and she huffed as she picked off another minute feather growing out of her forehead. Some anime villain laughed shrilly and the elevator music of the game seemed to grow in volume. She dug her claws into the nearest pillow and shoved it into her face. It was loud. Why was it so loud? Even the crinkling of the fabric against her face burned her ears.

 

 

The slurry of noises were overpowered by a solid tone of her doorbell. Alphys jumped in surprise and threw the pillow she had been holding against the wall. It landed it with a depressing _'pof'_ on her still unpacked bags. The doorbell rang again. Alphys scrambled for purchase on the cushions as she attempted to get up. Her legs sunk into the pile like quicksand. "COMING!" She yelled and felt the soft plush fabric rip under her sharp clawed toes.

She lifted a foot, seeing that she had punctured it through. In an attempt to stand on one leg to take off the offensive pillow while hobbling to the door, she had fallen out of her pile and onto the hard wood floor. The doorbell rang again. She bit her tongue as the impact snapped her jaw shut. The pillow had been removed but at what cost? A swollen tongue, how lovely.   
  
The doorbell rang again and a muffled voice said something, but Alphys didn't catch it. She slurred "Just a minute please!" and stuck her tongue out. No she had not bitten it off. Fan-fucking-tastic. Now she just has to deal with it. Lifting herself off the floor, she squirmed past the barrier of boxes in front of the hallway to her front door, and stood on her tiptoes to peer through the peephole.

Hapstablook. Their slightly off-white ectoplasmic body floated delicately in front of her door. Shit! It was the Human fan club meeting today wasn't it? Fuck. She knew she shouldn't of promised to host it at her place every other meeting.

"Alphys? I know you're in there! How long do you plan to keep me waiting, Dear?" Hapstablook trilled out and moved closed to the peephole, as if somehow it would become possible to see through the opposite way. At least Hapsta was being generous and not just phasing through the door. Even if they were kinda an asshole sometime, they knew how to give people privacy. Sometimes.  
  
Alphys unlocked the door with an audible _click_ of the rusty door and inched it open.

"Oh, Hi Hapsta......Uh.. Sorry I forgot the meeting was today so.."

"That quite alright Alphys. I would imagine with all these fantastic new things happening you would be a bit scrambled." Hapstablook swirled around, their ghostly form leaving a fading trail of ectoplasmic light.

"Speaking of which! I need to see your place! Have you decorated? It is nice? Oh. Let me see!" Hapstablook floated passed Alphys but quickly halted to avoid running face first into the pile of boxes barricading the way. Alphys relocked the door and shuffled behind them.

"Uh.. yeah its uh.. I haven't really been able to really um.. unpack. Y'know with work and all." She scratched the back of her head and felt a few soft feathers that had escaped her compulsive behavior, she shuddered and resisted the urge to tear them out.

"Oh, well if you needed help you could of just asked! Of course I wouldn't of really done all the heavy lifting, that's rather harsh work but I bet Blooky would of been delighted to help." Hapstablook floated in a circle around Alphys and inspected the poorly balanced boxes. Honestly if it hadn't been for Alphys' engineering degree she wouldn't of been able to stack those.

Alphys gave a sheepish grin and shook her hands in resignation. "O-oh no. T-thanks for the offer but it's really my mess. I wouldn't want to put someone else through all this trouble." Hapstablook made a noise that seemed to signify that they were only half-listening to Alphys as they phased through the boxes. "I'll ask Blooky about it when I get home. Don't worry about it darling!"

 Alphys pursed her lips in mild frustration, before sighing and simply carefully navigating around the boxes and after Hapstablook.

After managing to remove her tail from two boxes that seemed to of amalgamated together, she was greeted with Hapstablook floating lowly and peering at her laptop. The sounds of Mew Mew's light (and slightly erotic sounding) scream and the elevator music from the dating game caught Alphys attention.

She made a shrill noise that barely managed to stutter out of her throat and snapped the computer shut so fast that for a moment Alphys was afraid she had squished Hapstablook in between the keyboard and screen. Sadly, this was not the case, as Hapstablook floated up smugly to Alphys eye level and wiggled their eyebrows. Or the equivalent of eyebrows. Ghostbrows. 

 

"Alphys~"

 

"No."

 

"Alphy~~"

 

"Hapsta. I swear to fuck." 

 

"Why Alphys, there is no need to be so vulgar." Hapstablook bowed a little and put on their best little cute innocent face. Wow, they must of been practicing that look. They were certainly getting better at that.  
  
"It wasn't what it looked like it was, uh human research." Alphys quickly reopened her laptop, careful to keep the screen out of the others gaze, and closed all the windows. "A simulation to see how they interact w-with eachother." Alphys vaguely gestured to nothing and huffed.

"Alphys, Alphys, Alphys." Hapstablook sung her name and floated over to her hoard of pillows, paused for a moment to see the murders of the innocent plush pillows that she had stabbed earlier, then just settled into the pile and patted a ghostly little nub on the pillow next them.

"You don't have to hide all that stuff from me." They flicked a piece of fluff towards Alphys. "Though practicing romancing a human? How scandalous!"

  
"No no no no no, listen it's not," Alphys plopped down on the pile next to Hapsta and returned the laptop to it's reserved nest in front of them both. "It's not like that. Well I mean okay, it kinda is b-but.. not humans. It's not like someone has made a monster dating simulator." Wait, why hasn't SHE made that? Note to self..

Hapstablook eyes widened a bit. "Waaaaaaait, honey noooo.. oh my gosh! Do you have a crush?"

Alphys' scales now were a soft orange color and she covered her eyes.

"Wait, don't tell me you're going into another wave of love for fluffybuns are you?"

The color soured and she immediately brought her hands down into the plush underneath in frustration. "NO!!!!!! O-oh god that's j-just like... we've been OVER t-this Hapsta! It's n-not like.. " 

Hapstablook puffed out their cheeks and snickered. "I'm just teasing you! Relax, relax." Alphys huffed but managed to calm down.

 

........

 

"So who is it?"

"Eughghgdsafghg.d.f.." Alphys covered her eyes again.

"Come ooooooon, I'm not going to tell anyone! It's just us and to be fair I've told you about all my crushes."

"Crushes on Katou Yoji from 'Haru wo Daiteita' does not count and you STILL haven't given me that book back!" 

"Well excuse me then. Nevermind." Hapstablook made a movement with their upper body that suggested they were rolling their eyes. Or doing the ghost equivalent. 

 

Alphys held her breath and clicked her claws together. She did this for precisely 1 minute. Hapstablook squinted at her.

 

"OKAY!! Okay!!! I'll tell you but you have to keep it a secret! You h-have to promise!"

"Alphys... Dearest... you know I love you, but I feel like we do this annually." Hapstablook spoke in a way similar to how southern white mothers manage to insult you while still being polite. 

"Just p-promise!!" 

"Fine, fine.. I promise."

Alphys released a breath she had known she was holding and scratched her head spines.

"I-it's uh..."

"It's.. it's u-.. t-the uh." Alphys stuttered and vague gestured with her claws.

Hapstablook nodded their head and floated up a little bit to face alphys.

"It's...?" They tilted their head and frowned patiently.

"IT'S T-THE NEW ROYAL GUARDSW-W-WOMAN." Alphys stated louder than was technically necessary and fell backward into the pile of pillows, using one to cover her face.  
  
Hapstablook floated up and grinned. "The new one that was just sworn into the Guard by King Asgore? Like last week?"

 

"Y-yes..."Alphys voice came out muffled from beneath the pillow.

 

"DEAR! That is fantastic. Oh my gosh, you two would make the most fabulous couple. The contrast! When are you going to ask her out? Darling, you have to give me the EXACT date, I can set up a fabulous dating scene and-" Alphys sat up suddenly and interrupted Hapstablooks daydreams.  
  
"I-I-I'm not going to a-ask her out h-have you SEEN her? S-she's..." She vaguely gestured awkwardly into the air. "S-s-s-she's...."  
  
"ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!" Hapstablook exuded. "Especially if you're into fish warriors that could crack a skull with their biceps." They added.  
  
"I-I-I-I am and t-that's w-why e-everything is a-awful." Alphys held her cheeks in her hands and sighed. "She w-would never be into me I-I mean have you s-s-seen..." She vaguely gestured to herself.

 

"Honey, the only thing I see is that giant hellish being sucking out all of your self confidence. Oooooh, look you are your own giant hellish being." Hapstablook held a nubby hand against their chest and grinned. "With that attitude your not going to accomplish swooning your future girlfriend."

"S-she doesn't even know I-I exist probably I-I only saw her w-when I was visiting w-w-waterfall. a-a-and..." Alphys tore the tiny feathers out of that small area behind her head spikes.

Hapstablook gave a small smile and grabbed Alphys hands with their small ones. "Dear, she would be a fool to not love all of..." Hapstablook let Alphys hands fall into her lap and vaguely gestured her whole being. "...that, y'know?"

Alphys gave a toothy little grin and sighed. "Thanks Hapsta.."

The ghost sat back down, or at least as much as a ghost could. "You know.. I saw her carrying a bunch of bags into one of the empty caverns earlier this weak, wouldn't it be great if she moved in RIGHT next to me, dear? You'd have an excuse to 'accidentally' run into her.."

Alphys snickered lowly and reopened her laptop. "M-maybe w-we s-should take it o-one step a-at a time? Definitely."

"Well, well, well, isn't insisting to take one step at a time much better than thinking one couldn't do it at all. How lovely, Darling." Hapstablook's ectoplasmatic body glowed a little brighter. Alphys smiled in the Spectre's direction and started typing on the keyboard.  
  
"Anyway, what kind of human thing are we watching today anyhow?" Hapstablook shuffled around in the pillow pile and dug out a bag of chips. They're always a bag of chips underneath Alphys things. It was like a universal constant.  
  
Alphys brow shot up as she brought up the play screen. "Well see, I found this new anime called Mew Mew Kissy Cutie......."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow this took forever to write, my friend encouraged me after they forced me to show them the prior chapters
> 
> anyway more gays (tm) to come
> 
> gay fish and bi-nosaur to be coming soon dun dun DUN


	6. Notice me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> interlude for the cool shit. cool shit to happen soon.

The small, rapid tick of the clock harmonized in time with the impatient clicking Alphys claws against her worn wooden desk. The distinct sound of grumbling background music that she was used to after the first two weeks of working at the lab. The metal squeak and electric hisses of the working monsters a few meters behind her. The thermometer stayed stagnant at a swollen, bloated reading of indignant heat. Sweating seemed to be one of the few things that all these different species of monsters had in common.

Alphys had the assigned job of drawing up designs for a new form of engine, she had completed this a while ago and was now doodling idly on the blue print. Engines were fun. But she would be doing the same thing in metal shop, and even then her design might not be chosen. The rest of this 'team' that Dr. Fol had put together were also making designs. Dr. Lo was apart of this team, as well as some other guy name Dr. Wers. Dr. Wers had disregarded her when she had been introduced. So he had been labeled with the flattering title of 'Douche' in Alphys mind catalogue.

Not going to lie, the fact that Dr. Wers could fit in the palm of her hand made it slightly tempting to just _squish_ him. 

 

Of course Alphys didn't act on that thought because murder wasn't really her cup of metaphorical not-murdery tea.

 

It wasn't that drawing and doing what she was doing wasn't fun. Well, it was her jobs and jobs aren't usually fun. But it was _engineering._ That was like, her shit. But...

Her train of thought was interrupted by Dr. Lo. Er.. Lo. As she continuously insisted on being called.

*"Alphys, what did your design end up looking like? I kinda wanna see what everyone has first before Fol gets a look and Wers won't show me his."

Alphys mouth flatlined and she looked to Dr. Wers. Away from the rest of the 'group' scribbling in his own little corner. What a prick. Okay he hadn't technically done anything to piss of Alphys, but he just seemed like the type of monster to take stuff that doesn't belong to them. Alphys couldn't explain it.

*"Uh.." Alphys pushed her print in front of Lo and sighed. Lo enthusiastically took it and held them both up to compare. Lo was a better drawer than Alphys. Hrm.. Alphys squinted towards the entrance just in time to see Dr. Gaster and Sans, as well as what appeared to be a coalition of monsters following dutifully behind them both, the group circled around adjacent to the engineering entrance and entered the elevator. Huh.  
  
*"Are you oogling Dr. Gaster?" Dr. Lo Interrupted.

*"W-what? no. Jeez no." Alphys paused and glanced back to the elevator. "I just thought when I took this job I'd have a chance to actually work with Dr. Gaster. You know?"  
  
Dr Lo pawed Alphys blueprint back to her and looked back to where Alphys was looking and was met with an empty space and a whirring elevator. "Hmm.. Yeah. Only the really elite researchers and scientists get to work with Dr. Gaster. I mean, you just started here and all so you wouldn't know, but you have to do something really, really, really totally impressive to get on his team." Dr. Lo gnawed on a pencil and grinned. "I really look up to Dr. Gaster but I've been here forever and I've worked on a TON of stuff but none of it has been good enough to get on his team and work directly with the Human souls."

The corners of Alphys lips fell. *"Impressive?"

*"Yeah like, you know the guy that helped design the vents that help us float around hotland? He's on that team. And the lady who helped on the electrical system that connected around the underground to the core. All kind of impressive guys on that team!" Lo's voice fell a tad bit. *"I mean I haven't done a big project like that but it's gonna come to me soon I can feel it!"

Alphys was only half listening. Nod and smile. Nod and smile.

Something impressive? Sounds like only big time projects where what got you on Dr. Gaster's radar. Alphys Squinted at the clock as the end of the day came ever closer and some monsters started to leave.  
  
She'd need something that had never been done before. At least from how Dr. Lo explained it, all the monsters on Dr. Gaster's team had designed or made something totally new. She muted Dr. Fol as she walked over to his desk and dropped off the schematic and started heading down the maze of halls. Another day, another dollar to put towards her debt from engineering school.

Alphys was going to look up what all the scientists on Gaster's team had worked on as soon as she got home. She needed to make something big. Her mind wandered to all kinds of possibilities. She got on the riverperson's boat, it sways a tad as her weight made the wooden vessel groan with a hearty protest. 

What did that lazy skeletal monster do to get on a team of elite scientists? 

Maybe through relatives. He and Gaster didn't look that much alike but maybe through some kinda.. rich kid thing. Someone Gaster knew perhaps? Heh. That might be why the other seemed to get away with shitting with everyone. Not to mention everyone seemed to like him. 

 

_plop_

The fuck.

 

_plop plop_

 

Her snout was wet. Why was her snout wet. Alphys blinked out of her thoughts and twisted her neck around. Echoflowers. The stalactite's from above were dripping with moisture, resembling rain. She had missed her stop. 

She was in Waterfall.

Motherfucker.

 

Alphys stepped up to the head of the raft and was snout-back with the riverperson, the lizard monster tapped on what she assumed was the other monster's shoulder. She needed to get off, it was already late and she didn't want to bother navigating Waterfalls odd puzzles to get back home.

*"U-um.. Excuse me? C-can we turn back I-I uh, accidentally missed my stop." Ten points for Alphys. She actually talked to someone she's never talked before, didn't think that would happen today.

*"Tra la la la.." The Riverperson turned their.. head(?) a little and sung in a hushed voice. "..the angel is coming tra la la."

 

Yeah Alphys wasn't sure what she was expecting. She'd never hear The Riverperson say anything save for their odd sayings and riddles. Most of it was bullshit. Not that she was going to say that outright and be rude. No one is rude to the Riverperson.

Wait! Wait! What if she figured out a new way to travel in the underground! Other than boat.. Some kind of industrial pulley system so the anyone could get on it at any...wait no.. no that wouldn't work. Dammit.

Alphys sighed and sat back in place. Looks like she would have to take this boat all the way to Waterfall and then walk home. The Riverperson didn't take travelers at night so Alphys would most likely be their last trip. Fucky fuck fuck.

_plop_

Eugh. It's cold here. Not snowdin cold but.. damn. Cold and wet. Not nice.

 

The boat came to a slow rendering stop. One more chance. Alphys tugged on The Riverperson's cloak. "U-um.. I know you usually don't take anymore people passed this time b-but uh... could w-we just.. h-head back.. uh.." 

The Riverperson looked at Alphys blankily. Or well, the dark veil pointed in her direction with a rather odd air of annoyance. Maybe that was just her overthinking.

Alphys stepped off the boat. *"S-sorry never mind. Uh.." _plop_ "H-have a nice night!" With her words being said The Riverperson tutted off in his boat. A faded *"tra la la la the water's very dry today" echoing off the walls of the wet cavern.

 

Well.. that happened.

 

Shit. 

 

Hapstablook lived nearby.. she couldn't make it home but maybe.. she could spend a night over? Hmm... One, two, three, four..

**Author's Note:**

> lmao i can't write but i need more works about alphys and her shit depression and how she is cool. and some one has 2 do it so here i fucking am. Sorry it had 2 be me tbh i'm not really qualified for this shit. pls kick my ass so i can write better but not 2 bad pls im soft like a marshmallow


End file.
